Moss - help!

I live in the very damp west highlands and have moss everywhere - on lawns and on gravel paths. Can anyone please recommend something that will permanently kill moss without a lawnfeed combined with it.

 

Hi Carran

I dont think that a permanent moss killer exists. The only mosskiller that i know of is dichlorophen but im not sure whether it has been withdrawn or not. Even if you do kill it just now it will come back because the conditions obviously suit it where you are. Sorry i cant be more help.

 

Dichlorophen is still available commercially, but I'm not sure about garden centres. Another option is sulphate of iron of even straight liquid sulphur (if you're careful with it) will also work.

As Mrs. Cloudy says, there is no permanent cure, but I'm wondering why you don't want any fertiliser mixed with the moss killer? If you do your best to promote healthy conditions for grass species, you will provide more competition for the moss. You could also use fertilisers that contain iron or are sulphur coated - this would help to lower the pH a little bit, which most moss species do not like.

Just some other tips:

1) Remove shade as far as possible to allow light to the soil surface - this helps dry the soil as well as encouraging the grass plants.

2) Try to get some wind movement going in the garden - though in Scotland I doubt that's much of a problem

3) Aerate the lawn so that it drains well. This will also promote stronger grass growth - equals more competition.


As for the paths, be careful using iron or sulphur, because they can cause discolouration.

 

Many thanks both for the info, I'll see what I can lay my hands on locally. The reason I didn't want lawn feed as well was because I didn't want nice healthy grass coming up thru the gravel, but if I deal with the moss first then I guess I can deal with any grass later.
Thanks
Carran